Why We Don't Pray: Fear of Doing It Wrong

 

More from Praying Like Monks, Living Like Fools by Tyler Staton:

We Don't Pray for Fear of Doing It Wrong

Some of us are kept from praying because we listen to everyone else's prayers and it makes us feel like we're up after Winston Churchill in high school speech class.

I'm not eloquent. I'm not confident. I'm not comfortable. I hear other people pray out loud, and it only furthers the insecurity.

Many Christians spend years limiting their experience of prayer to sitting in a pew while a professional Christian talks to God in words they'd never use in normal conversation, leading to the misconception, "I must be doing it wrong."

Some of us don't pray often, not yet anyway. Maybe one day we'll master the lingo and learn the mechanics.

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Truth is...We too often forget what Jesus said in Matthew 6:7-8: "When you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him."